


Residual

by sachi_sama



Series: Halloweenstuck [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Awkwardness, Dave is adorable, Filming, Ghost Hunting, Halloween, Haunting, John is dense, M/M, Spooky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-24
Updated: 2013-10-24
Packaged: 2017-12-30 08:33:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1016416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sachi_sama/pseuds/sachi_sama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After hearing about a ghost sighting at the local haunted house, John is more than a little excited to go on just one more amateur ghost hunting trip. Dave doesn't even believe in them, but he'll go anywhere as long as John keeps smiling at him like that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Residual

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I liked it, but I forgot to put a ring on it, so A. Hussie owns Homestuck!

The sun streams through a crack in the blinds, and the entire room is almost blinding. He keeps meaning to get curtains to solve this little problem, but he never seems to remember until he’s literally fucking blinded by the light. Dave grumbles and rolls over, tugging his pillow off his head.

“I was just about to come wake you up!” a voice says from the doorway, and he looks up to see John leaning against the wall. Dave groans and tosses the pillow at him, feeling as if he’s done this exact same thing at least a dozen times before. John dodges the projectile with a slight yelp, and then makes his merry way over to the bed as if he was invited.

“John, not that I don’t fucking love you, because we both know it’s so much homo that homo doesn’t understand why the fuck we’re ever out of each other’s arms, but I’m literally already tired of your face right now. Like, Jesus, why the fuck are you so chipper at half past Satan’s dick in the morning?” Dave snarks, blinking wearily up at the baby blues directed at him. John merely grins, leaning down to run his fingers through Dave’s already messy hair.

“You’re so grumpy when you first wake up, jeeze,” he says. “And it’s not any time in the morning, you ass-trumpet. It’s past noon. That’s why we’re going to have _lunch_.”

“Going where?” Dave grumbles, grateful his tone is still irritable despite the fact that he just wants to purr due to the attention he’s receiving from those nimble fingers in his hair. Seriously, John knows just where to touch. It’s almost criminal.

“Rose messaged me a few minutes ago,” John says, absently massaging Dave’s scalp. “She wants us to meet her and Jade at Ruby Tuesday.”

Dave berates himself for the slight whine that comes out of his mouth when John’s fingers disappear, but he saves face by looking up to his roommate and scowling. “I’m getting alcohol.”

“In the afternoon?”

“I need it to deal with Rose. Like, you don’t even fucking know.”

“Alright, alright. Get out of bed, though! I’m starving!” John leaves the room, presumably to message Rose or Jade and make more plans for them that Dave would rather sleep through, and Dave rolls into the floor, lazily making his way to the closet to get dressed.

He and John have been living together for over a year now, but they’re hardly ever able to hang out like this. John works during the day at the bookstore down the street, and Dave DJs at a local club during the night. They were lucky enough to have the same day off together for the first time in forever, and Dave greedily wanted to spend it with John alone. But food _is_ sounding better and better.

Grumbling to himself, he pulls a white T-shirt from his closet and pulls it over his head. He sighs for an unnecessary amount of time when he notices almost all of his jeans are off the hangers, and coiled into piles on the floor of the closet, due to the fact he’d already worn them.

“John!” he calls irritably. “We need to do laundry!”

“You mean _you_ need to do laundry,” John calls back. “All mine are clean.”

“You did all your own laundry and didn’t think to ask me if I had any? That’s cold, bro. I thought we had something special, here.”

“I did ask you. I asked you yesterday, and you grunted at me. I don’t speak Cro Magnon.”

Dave doesn’t think he ever really grunts, but he does make another throaty noise when he pulls his favorite pair of jeans from his closet floor, discreetly sniffing them before tugging them on. They’re clean enough, he decides.

“I saw that,” says John from behind him.

“Ogling my hot bod, are we?” Dave smirks, zipping up the jeans before turning to face his roommate. John rolls his eyes, roaming around him to look at the piles of clothes littered around.

“Dave, oh my god.”

“It’s not my fault,” Dave says, tugging his red and black hoodie off the dresser and putting it on. “I’m not meant to be cleanly.”

“I’m waiting for a monster to reach out from under the clothes and pull me under,” John says. “Are you almost ready? My stomach is eating itself.”

“You can’t rush perfection. I can’t go out looking ratchet.”

“Okay. You look beautiful, Dave. I literally want you all over me, because you’re so attractive. Like, I can hardly contain myself. Now can we go?”

“Well, shit, man. Coming on a little strong, aren’t we?” Dave turns to grab his sunglasses off the bedside dresser.

John rolls his eyes, and then leads him out of the apartment, grabbing the keys off the kitchen counter. They journey downstairs, Dave shoving John out the door of the building with a friendly jab, and John shooting him a glare with no real malice behind it. It feels awesome, almost like when they could hang out together every day after school.

It’s nice and cozy in the car, and they’re in a companionable silence while John fiddles with the radio from the passenger seat. It’s a cloudy day outside, and there’s a slight chill in the air. Dave knows they’ll have to start driving with the heat on soon enough, and he’s dreading it. Nothing is worse than leaving the club in the middle of the night to find a frozen car, and then having to sit there and wait for it to defrost just so he can see while he drives.

“So are you doing anything tonight?” John asks him suddenly, leaning back in his seat after settling on some cheesy pop song from the 90’s.

“Yeah, man. I’m chilling with my best bro, even if his music taste is literally shit,” Dave says, tossing him a glance. John’s smiling widely at him, flashing all his teeth. Dave’s stomach does a weird flippy thing that he credits to lack of food.

“Only 90’s kids will understand my music taste, Dave.”

“There were plenty of good songs in the 90’s. This is not one of them.”

“Oh, whatever. You’re such a hipster.”

“Hipster at least means hip. You gotta be king of the derps, man. Head derpster.”

“Anyway,” John says, shoving his shoulder, “I thought you’d have plans tonight.”

“Why’s that?”

“Cause, dude. It’s Halloween.”

“Oh.”

In all honesty, Dave had forgotten all about Halloween. It was a pretty busy scene at the club he played, all the patrons showing up in full costume, happy to have a reason to drink more excessively than usual. It’s usually a big deal to the owner, and he’ll probably get a call sometime during the night from the owner, asking him to come and do a set. He hazards another glance at John, and he’s saddened when he sees the smile is gone from his face.

“I guess you’ll have to go, then?” John asks quietly, trying to offer a small smile. Dave sighs.

“Nah. They can do without me for a night.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. We can spend a bromantic Halloween together. Matching sweaters and everything. It’ll be peachy.”

John beams at him, reaching over to grab Dave’s free hand in his, and squeezes his fingers. They’re both pretty touchy-feely, so this is a normal occurrence. It never stops Dave’s heart from racing, though. He can’t help but wonder if John can feel it pounding in their connected hands, but he doesn’t dare pull his hand away.

When they arrive at the restaurant, Dave groans at the crowd of cars. Leave it to Rose to pick a busy place just to spite him. They circle the lot three times until Dave finally spots an empty place toward the back of the lot. John gets out first and roams around the car, pulling the strings from his hoodie as he waits.

“I wonder if there’s a wait,” he says as Dave gets out of the car.

“Probably. Whatever forces in the universe can align to make me have to spend more time with Rose Lalonde will align. They always do. Like fucking clockwork.”

“You think too much about her trying to ambush you,” John laughs. “She’s your sister, dude. Your _twin_ sister, at that. Avoiding her isn’t possible forever.”

“ _Fraternal_ twins,” he argues like it’s a big distinguishing factor. “And I’m not avoiding her. Jesus, it’s like a guy doesn’t go where he knows certain people will be, and all of a sudden we’re calling it shit like ‘avoiding’. Why the fuck are we always putting labels on everything? I’m an anti-labelist. It’s a thing I just invented for the sake of this conversation.”

“Oh, you mean the conversation you’re having with yourself?”

“Fuck you, Mr. Derptastic. I’d talk to you if you were grown up enough.”

John opened his mouth to retort, but he was interrupted by the mass of wild black hair that attached itself to him out of the blue.

“John! Thanks so much for meeting us here!” Jade cheers, hugging John so tightly he almost seems to be turning purple. Dave considers making a Barney the Dinosaur joke until she turns to him and gathers him in for his own bone-crushing embrace. He can practically hear his spine snapping, and almost releases an unmanly whimper at the sound. Once she releases him, and the spots fade from his vision, he sees Rose standing next to him with all her Cheshire Cat-like smiling glory. This time, he can’t hold in the inhuman noise that comes out of his mouth. He’s _dreading_ being under her knowing gaze, even for a short amount of time.

“Hello, Dave,” she says pleasantly, but he can sense the condescending undertones. “I see you’re out and about before sundown.”

“Yeah, well,” he begins, straightening his clothes out, “I come out of the coffin for food. I mostly feed at night, but John said we need to socialize or some shit.”

“Oh, yes. I almost forget you’d do anything for John,” she smiles, and it takes everything he has not to moan in agony.

So it fucking begins.

Sometime back in high school, during all those supposed after-school special hormones and shit, and _after_ Rose moved back from New York with their eccentric mother to finish school with Dave and his brother, she began giving him these looks. He tried not to think too much of it at the time, because Rose was always claiming to know too much about one thing or another, but then he realized, with an increased amount of dread, that she only gave him those particular looks whenever he was hanging out with John. The cat was out of the fucking bag on that one, but he didn’t have much hope on the matter. Sure, he and John were closer than regular friends, but as far as romance went, Dave was pretty sure he never had a chance. Sometimes, though, John would do little things or say certain things that would give him a glimmer of hope, and it was during one of those times of weakness that they became roommates. Rose told him more than a few times that he would never progress if he didn’t make a move, and Jade told him once she thought the entire thing was adorable. Bro mostly just called him a wuss, and threatened to disown him if he didn’t “tap that”, and Dave couldn’t help but wonder when the fuck everyone got so involved in his love life. Or lack of love life.

“How many?” the girl at the hostess stand asks as their group walks forward.

“Four, please,” Rose says, and the hostess gathers up their menus and beckons them to follow her. Dave is secretly pleased when she gives them a booth, because John slides in next to him and their knees are touching. Yup, fucking god of romance here. It’s him.

“Dave, are you seriously looking at the drink selection?” Jade asks from across the table, and he casts her a glance.

“I’m up before 8pm. I deserve it.”

“Yeah, I’m really proud of him,” John grins, rubbing their knees together privately under the table. “He only offered minimal resistance.”

“Ah, I’m so proud!” Jade laughs. “Our little Dave is growing up! Before you know it, he’ll have an actual job!”

“I work. I just don’t have soul-sucking employment like all of you.”

“Yes, if anyone knows about potential sucking, it’s Dave,” Rose says nonchalantly as her eyes skim along the menu clutched in her plum painted talons-uh, nails. Dave feels his face heating up and John and Jade laugh, and he almost cries with relief when their waiter comes- until he sees who it is.

“Ugh, oh my god,” Eridan Ampora says, giving them all a look of disdain. “Why are you guys even here?”

“Food, obviously,” Dave says. “Why are you here?”

“I work here.”

“Sweet. I’ll add this to my future list of places to never go to again, then.”

“Do you even work, Strider?”

“Do you even lift, Ampora?”

“Dave, oh my god,” John says, laughing. “You’re such a fucking dork, I swear.”

“What the fuck do you want to drink, Egbert?” Eridan asks, the expression on his face scrunching as if he’s got a sour taste in his mouth.

“Just Pepsi.”

“I want a Long Island Tea,” Dave says, closing the drink menu and opening the food one. Eridan scoffs.

“It’s the afternoon.”

“No, really? Well thank you, Big Ben, you’re a total life saver. I mean, shit, dude, how the hell did you end up working here when you’re obviously the only one in the whole fucking universe who knows what time it is?”

Under the table, John puts a hand on his thigh, squeezing slightly, and the action is so unexpected that it sends a surge of heat straight to his groin, and takes him so off guard that he doesn’t even reply when Eridan calls him an asshole. He simply stares unseeing at his menu, trying to keep his breath steady, and hopes to whatever god there is that John can’t hear his frantic heartbeat.

When he looks up again, Eridan is gone, and Rose is giving him that fucking look again, mouth quirked up into a smirk.

“So what are you guys doing tonight?” Jade asks.

“Bromantic activities,” John replies, discreetly removing his hand from Dave’s thigh. “Something about matching tacky sweaters.”

“I thought that was a Christmas thing.”

“It’s more ironic to do it for Halloween,” Dave says, deciding to go for broke and leaning his knee fully against John’s. His heart does a fucking pirouette when John leans back against him.

“It’s nice you get to spend some time together,” Rose says. “I know there’s been scheduling issues.”

“Yeah, it sucks,” John groans. “We live together, and we hardly ever see each other. At least Dave’s mounds of laundry make the apartment smell like him.”

“I’m hoping to build a new society,” Dave says.

“You should see his room. It’s like he literally just took all the clothes off the hanger and threw them around in a fit of rage,” John supplies.

“His room was always a mess at home, too,” Rose says. “I eventually gave up on cleaning for him, and Dirk used to just throw his clothes outside if he found them lying around.”

“Yeah, until he started fucking auctioning them off on eBay,” Dave frowns. “He was marketing them to creepy old men, too.” He’s tempted to shoot Dirk a nasty message at the memory.

Everyone but him laughs, and Eridan comes back with their drink orders. Dave notices how friendly he is to the girls, and it makes him cringe a little. Eridan is well-known for flirting with practically anyone, but even he isn’t as intolerable as his brother, Cronus. Either way, they’re both pretty obnoxious, and he made it clear back in high school that he hated both of them, so they’re always particularly nasty to each other when they cross paths.

“When did you get that purple streak in your hair, Eridan?” John asks, trying to diffuse another argument before it can start.

“Few weeks ago,” Eridan says, and Dave cringes at the way he elongates his ‘W’s’. It’s always driven him crazy. “Why?”

“It, um. It looks nice,” John offers with an innocent smile.

“Well, hey, thanks, beautiful. Now what will you have to eat?”

Dave listens to him go around the table and get everyone’s order, flirting shamelessly with all of them, but especially going all out with John, mistaking his friendliness for affection. He gets increasingly pissed off, but to his credit, his face remains perfectly impassive. Finally, it’s his turn to order. He leans back in the booth.

“Seriously, dude, why do you feel the need to try and stick your junk in everything that moves?”

“I would never stick it anywhere near _you_ ,” Eridan says. “Now what do you fucking want?”

“A waiter with some tact.”

“Daaaaave,” John groans. “C’mon, man, I’m starving.”

Still trying to telepathically send murderous waves to Eridan, and for no particular reason, Cronus, too, he orders a hamburger, and then gulps from his Long Island tea. John reaches over to grab his drink, sipping gingerly.

“Mmm, that’s good,” he groans, and Dave curses the fact that his body heats up from the noise John just made.

Their food comes pretty quickly, despite the crowd, and soon they’re making small talk and laughing like old times. Dave orders another Long Island so John can share with him, and Rose sends another look, but doesn’t say anything. While John and Jade are wrapped in a conversation about Halloween plans, Dave excuses himself to go outside and smoke a cigarette. He’s not too surprised when Rose follows him out.

“Eager for some secondhand smoking?” he asks her as he lights up. Her mouth is a thin line.

“You said you’d quit,” she says simply.

“I cut back,” he says honestly, because he _had_. He was a pack a day for a short time, until John begged him to cut back due to his own dad’s health problems from smoking a pipe for so many years. He was slowly cutting them out until he was down to five a day, but he was still planning on quitting altogether. Eventually.

“So how are things?” Rose asks, sitting down on the small brick ledge. Dave remains standing.

“Same as they always were.”

“You and John seemed rather cozy in there.”

“We’re two peas in a fucking pod.”

“I have to ask, is it just me you’re shutting out, or is it Dirk, too?”

He sighs, exhaling smoke as he does, and then he sits beside her, stretching his legs out.

“Here’s the thing,” he says, flicking some ashes, “it gets old really fucking quick when everyone shoots me these little looks of pity and disappointment whenever we hang out. I know you and Dirk got your eye candy, and that’s great, really. Go and fuck Kanaya all you want, and he can do whatever the hell he wants with Jake, but just _stop_ with the condescending looks about the John situation, Jesus fuck.”

“I don’t condescend, Dave,” Rose frowns. “I merely encourage.”

“Yeah? Well, your ‘encouragement’ makes me feel like I’m the angsting teen from a John Hughes movie.”

“Yes, I suppose it could be interpreted that way,” she sighs. “I never meant that. Dirk probably did, though.”

“He already filled my closet full of swords last week. I don’t even know how the fuck he got into my room.”

“In all honesty, Dave,” Rose says, looking over at him. “Are you ever going to tell him?”

Dave takes a long drag on his cigarette. “The timing never seems right.”

“There’s no time like the present.”

“You’re suggesting a cheesy Halloween love confession?”

“John appreciates cheesy moves.”

“True.”

He smashes his cigarette under his foot, and turns to go back inside until Rose grabs his shoulder.

“For whatever it’s worth,” she says, “I think he reciprocates.”

He doesn’t answer, because he can’t even allow himself to _think_ of that possibility when he knows it’s probably not ever going to be true.

He slips back in the booth beside John, on the outside this time, and he’s pleased when John’s knee knocks against his again.

“Are people even allowed there?” he’s asking Jade, absently knocking his leg against Dave’s over and over.

“I don’t think so,” she replies. “It’s pretty much one of those ‘No Trespassing’ deals.”

“What is?” Rose asks before Dave can.

“Remember that old mansion on the corner or Oakwood?” John says. “Well, Jade says Feferi said she saw a ghost there the other day.”

“Ugh, one of those he said she said ghost sightings,” Dave sighs. “’Cause those are always accurate.”

“Oh, shut up, Dave,” Jade frowns. “Feferi wouldn’t make up something like that!”

“What about Feferi?” Eridan asks when he comes back with their check. He’s always had a major thing for Feferi, and he still hasn’t given up despite the fact that she’s now dating Nepeta, another girl they all went to school with. There was a memorable incident in gym once when Eridan thought Sollux Captor was interested in Feferi, and challenged him to a fight. Eridan lost. Miserably.

“She saw a man’s face in the old creepy mansion window on Oakwood!” Jade says. “No one’s been in that house in ages. There couldn’t have been anyone inside.”

“Maybe it was some vagrant,” Eridan says. “Ghosts aren’t real.”

“Oh, like magic wasn’t real, and then the next day, you decided it was?” Dave says, rolling his eyes. “You change your mind like clockwork, dude. Tomorrow, you’ll decide ghosts are the realest things ever.”

“Whatever,” Eridan practically tosses their check on the table, and doesn’t bother turning back around after he stomps away.

“He’s so not getting a tip,” Dave says, pulling out his wallet to pay his share while everyone else does the same. “He didn’t even ask if we wanted separate checks.”

“Yeah, he sucks,” John says. “What else did Feferi say about the old house?”

“That’s all she saw,” Jade replies. “She’s too scared of stuff like that. I doubt she even looked at the window for more than a few seconds. She frowns, looking at the table for a moment. “I wonder what kind of evidence could be found there, though.”

“Well,” John says, “let’s find out!”

“What.” Dave doesn’t even make it into a question.

“Yeah, c’mon!” John is suddenly enthusiastic. “I have a few cameras from when my dad thought I wanted to make movies. They’re actually pretty nice! And I’ve always wanted to go check this place out!”

“I thought you grew out of this amateur ghost hunting shit,” Dave says flatly, not liking this idea one bit. The four of them used to explore haunted looking places, taking one of John’s dad’s tape recorders and trying to get EVPs back in junior high. They never really got any evidence, but they’d had plenty of spooky experiences.

“No, it’s just that no one else wanted to go with me anymore after we got into high school.”

“I’m in!” Jade says excitedly. “Oooh, this’ll be so cool! Like the old days!”

“Do you have plans with Kanaya tonight, Rose?” John asks.

“Hmm,” she says. “Kanaya is working on a new line of clothes she hopes to have out by winter, so I suppose I can accompany you.” Jade gives her a huge hug, causing a squeak to erupt from her mouth.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Dave says, leaning back in the booth. “Am I the only one here who thinks this is a bad idea? Since when am _I_ the voice of reason? Rose, seriously? You’re not doing your job.”

“I am curious,” Rose says as if it answers everything. “Besides, it’s been a long time since we’ve all done anything together like this. I agree with Jade, it’ll be fun to relive old times.”

“We were the coolest ghost hunters ever,” John says with a fond look. “Are you gonna come, Dave?”

“Like hell I’m letting you go to this place without me,” he says before he can think about it, and he freezes at the knowing looks Jade and Rose give him, and the flush that creeps across John’s skin. “I mean, y’all need my expertise, y’know,” he tries to salvage.

“Yes!” John gathers him in a hug. “This is gonna be so great!”

Later, when the sky is pink and purple from the setting sun, John is checking the batteries from the three cameras he found, and then announces that they’re almost fully charged when Jade and Rose invite themselves in the apartment. Dave still has a foreboding feeling, like they’d done this sort of things thousands of times just to have it go wrong, but he’s not backing out without John.

It’s not that he’s scared of ghosts or some shit. Frankly, he doesn’t believe in them. He was part of the ghost hunting for pure ironic purposes, and it was worth it when they all had such good times together. Half the time, John would end up forgetting all about the task at hand, and they’d end up telling jokes and stories the whole time. At least, that’s how it used to be. They’d never snuck into a place before, though. Dave isn’t worried about getting caught. He’s just got a bad feeling.

“Hey, bro,” John says, walking over to him. “You’ve been a little out of it today. You alright?”

“Uh, yeah, man,” Dave says. He looks over at Rose, who gives him a little nod, and he sighs. “Actually, I. I need to talk to you.”

“What about?” John asks, looking slightly worried.

“It’s just- kinda hard to say.”

“Are you scared of ghosts, Dave?”

“Jesus fuck, _no_. Look, I’ll tell you later, okay. Just remind me to. And don’t let it go till I tell you. It’ll do us both a favor.”

John nods, but still looks confused, and Dave allows him to pull him by the hand towards the girls, who are looking up articles about the house on Google.

“It says a man named Fred Jones killed his wife and three kids in the house in the 1960’s, and then killed himself,” Rose says when they walk behind her. Rose’s favorite part was always the research, and Dave doesn’t think she believes in ghosts either.

“Ugh, God,” Jade says, looking at the article. “He butchered them with an _axe_.”

“So we might be dealing with at least one malevolent spirit,” John says with a serious look that Dave just wants to kiss.

“There’s more,” Rose offers. “In the 80’s, the new owner was throwing a party for his daughter before allegedly trying to attack her. After partygoers stopped him, he locked himself in the library and shot himself.”

“This place has a _library_?” Dave asks, tearing his eyes away from John.

“It’s huge, I’m telling you!” Jade says. “Grandpa said back in the day, he saw the inside and it and was worried he might get lost.”

“Great,” Dave grumbles.

“And,” Rose says, “there’s a supposed residual haunting on the main staircase where a potential buyer fell to her death.”

They grab the cameras, flashlights, candles, and a single tape recorder John managed to dig up, and head out the door, all four of them clamoring in Dave’s car. The entire way there, John is talking excitedly about what they’re going to do, and Dave tries to figure out why the fuck he’s got a feeling of déjà vu when he knows he’s never been to the old house before tonight.

“This is the best night to do it, too,” Jade says. “The veil between both worlds is almost non-existent. We’ll be able to communicate more freely.”

“I know, I’m so excited!” John says as they pull up to the secluded house on the corner.

Dave kills the engine, and they all get out, though none as quickly as John, who all but bolts from the car. Jade has her flashlight on, and she’s looking around the front porch.

“I don’t guess it’ll be unlocked,” she says quietly.

“Can’t we just break a window or something?” Dave says. “I mean, it’s not like anyone lives here.”

“That would be disrespectful!” Jade argues. “If there are spirits here, we can’t treat them without respect!”

John walks up to the door and twists the knob, and it’s locked. He frowns, and then looks toward the windows to the side of the handle.

“It’s already broken,” he says matter of factly. “The window over here, I mean. I guess it would be, since this whole place is pretty worn down.” He reaches inside the hole to the lock on the inside, and manages to work the old lock enough to twist it and open the door. When he pulls his hand back, it’s bleeding.

“Shit, John,” Dave grumbles, walking up to him and looking at the small scratches. “That’s what happens when you reach your hand in a hole in the glass, fucktard.”

“Oh, shut up, Dave,” John says. “I got us in, didn’t I?”

“Here, John,” Rose says, pulling an embroidered handkerchief from her pocket. “I’ve got plenty of these, since Kanaya enjoys making them.”

Dave takes it from her, and wraps it around John’s injured hand with the light from Jade’s flashlight. Once it’s securely wrapped, the four of them journey inside very slowly. Dave whistles as he looks around.

“God _damn_ ,” he says. “Your grandpa wasn’t joking, Harley.”

“I _told_ you!” Jade says.

“I think we’re gonna need to split up,” John says, not bothering to pull his hand away from Dave. “Otherwise we’ll never get every room.”

“Hold up,” Dave groans, “if we split up, we’re going in fucking groups of two.”

“I agree,” Rose says. “If we see anything, we can call each other.”

“I wanna go with Rose!” Jade says, latching onto Rose’s arm.

“I don’t know…” John says, looking uncertain.

“Because we’re both women?” Jade scoffs. “I’m sure I’m stronger than you and Dave! So we’re gonna go this way!” She tugs Rose toward the first room. “You guys explore upstairs!”

Dave grumbles, and takes out his own flashlight. “You heard the lady,” he says, making his way to the stairs. John follows close behind him, their steps echoing in the vast house. The floors are hardwood and dingy with dust and time, but some of the paintings and candlesticks the light lands on seem perfectly intact, despite being a little dusty. Dave expected a much more dilapidated scene, but then again, the house has only been vacant since the 70’s.

They journey into a large bedroom with extravagant furniture. Dave shines his flashlight around, and it bounces back toward them when it hits a mirror. John roams to the corner, looking interestedly at the knick knacks scattered on the dresser, and Dave hangs back to watch him.

“It’s kinda sad,” John says after a moment. “We’re just intruding on someone’s past, kind of. Like, people had a life here, once. This was their _home_.”

“I know, man,” Dave says, walking up beside him. “That’s one of the issues I have with this whole thing.”

“One of?” John asks. “What else are you thinking of?”

“I just have this…feeling, I guess. Don’t worry about it.”

They’re silent for a few moments, scaling the room and looking around when a shrill noise cuts through the silence. John jumps and yelps, and Dave scrambles to pick up his cellphone, cursing himself for not putting it on vibrate. He stares at the screen.

“Who is it?” John asks.

“The owner of the club.”

“Oh.”

Dave swipes his thumb, and the phone stops ringing, but he doesn’t answer it. He puts it back in his pocket instead.

“Don’t you need to go?” John asks. “I mean, I know Halloween is a big party night.”

“Nah, dude, it’s cool.”

“But, Dave-“

“Look, I know it’s a big thing or whatever, but I seriously spend a shit ton of time there as it is. They can get along one Halloween without me. Besides, I just wanna spend time with you.”

He can feel John looking at him, but fuck it; his whole aloof act isn’t getting him anywhere. John can always see through it anyway, so he might as well just drop it for a little bit.

“Um…Dave, I…”

They’re interrupted again when the door behind them slams closed.

“Shit!” Dave hisses while John scrambles to turn on the camera. “What the fuck?”

“Damn, I should’ve gotten that,” John grumbles. “I didn’t even think about the cameras!”

“Yeah, me too. You ready to go to the next room?”

They explore a few more rooms together, this time with the camera running. Nothing substantial happens, and Dave is beginning to relax in the presence of John as they roam the halls, engaging each other in quiet conversation.

“I wonder if the man’s face in the window was that Fred guy,” John says. “He would’ve had to be on the second floor for Feferi to see him from the street.”

“You think he’s up here?” Dave asks, shining the light around almost cautiously.

“Well, he might be. I’d rather him come to us than Rose and Jade. I also think we should put one of the cameras on the stairs to see if we could pick up the residual haunting Rose mentioned.”

“Oh, yeah. What the fuck is residual?”

“It’s pretty much a haunting that happens whether or not there are people around to witness it. Like, if a ghost was walking up and down the stairs over and over again at the same time every night, it would be residual. They’re not interacting with anyone; they’re just doing the same action they did when they were alive.”

“Well that’s depressing as shit. Why are they stuck doing the same thing?”

“There’s a lot of speculation,” John says, pointing the camera up to look at some cobwebs he seems to find interesting. “Some people say they’re reliving how they died, and some people believe they’re actually reliving the entire _day_ over and over, ending the same way every time. Spirits are on a different dimensional plane than us, so I guess time wouldn’t work the same. It’s sad, though, like you said.”

Dave contemplates this as they emerge into a room filled with bookshelves.

“The library!” John grins. “I wanna try to get some EVPs in here, okay?”

“Go for it.”

They sit cross legged on the floor, across from each other. Dave holds the camera while John pulls out the old tape recorder.

“My name is John Egbert,” he says to the room at large after hitting the record button, “and I’m here with my friend Dave Strider. We’re just gonna ask some questions really quick. Is that okay?”

He waits for a moment to give the spirit a chance to answer, and then he continues speaking.

“Do you know what made you attack your daughter?”

Silence.

“Do you remember your daughter’s name?”

Silence.

“What’s _your_ name?”

More silence.

“Is there more than one of you here?”

John presses rewind at that point, and turns up the volume. There’s not a response to any of the questions, and John gets a discouraged look on his face, until he gets to the last one.

 _“Is there more than one of you here?”_ John’s voice asks on the recorder, and it’s silent again until heavy static consumes the recording, and then an unmistakable male voice says, _“Yes.”_

Dave is speechless. He’s never been witness to actual evidence before. All the noises they’d heard in the past could’ve been attributed to many other factors, but not this one. Not this time. John’s eyes are wide, and he looks scared despite the wide smile on his face.

“Who else is here?” he asks the room, hand on the record button. He hits rewind after a moment.

_“H-e’s here.”_

“Who is? Fred Jones?”

The response this time is so filled with static that John can’t make out an answer. He sighs and begins to stand up. “I don’t think we’re going to get anymore for now,” he says. Dave is still staring at him. “What?”

“It- it fucking _answered_.”

“Yeah. It’s an EVP, haha.”

“Why the fuck aren’t you freaking out?”

“Because the goal is to get a response, dude!”

Dave frowns, but stands up, telling John to hold up for a second. “I wanna see if we got anything on camera.”

“You’re actually invested in this!” John giggles, standing close to observe the monitor as Dave reviews it. John’s eyes are glowing in the monitor from the night vision. Everything is normal on camera, and Dave begins recording again, slightly disappointed.

“Let’s go sit on the stairs,” John says, tugging on his hand. “We might still get the residual ghost. Jade and Rose have the Jones murder site downstairs.”

“Do you think they’re alright?”

“We can call them.”

They journey back down the hallway, toward the staircase. John sits down on top of them, leaning against Dave heavily while he pulls his phone out, pressing Rose’s number on the screen. It rings a few times.

 _“Hello?”_ Rose says.

“Hey, is everything cool on your end?” John asks.

_“Yes. We captured something on video we think you’ll like to see, but we’re going to keep going for a bit.”_

“Awesome! We got an EVP!”

_“That is indeed awesome. Are we meeting by the stairs?”_

“Yeah, we’re already on them. We’re gonna see if we can get more EVPs while we wait for you.”

_“Alright. See you in a bit.”_

John hangs up and nuzzles his head on Dave’s shoulder, sighing happily.

“How is it we’re in a haunted house, and I feel perfectly safe here with you?” he asks.

“Because I’m a crescent fresh bodyguard.”

“Hmm. Didn’t you have to tell me something?”

“It can wait.”

“C’mooon, Dave! Stop being so aloof! It’s gonna drive me crazy if you don’t tell me.”

“Don’t be such a whiny bitch.”

John whacks him on the thigh, and then digs for the tape recorder again, instructing Dave to get the camera rolling.

“Didn’t Rose say the death on the stairs was a woman?” he asks while Dave turns the camera back on.

“Yeah, something about a potential buyer.”

“Hm… It’s weird, don’t you think?”

“What is?”

“Well,” John says, looking around, “something just made this Jones guy snap and kill everyone and himself, then a dead body is found in the library after moving in, and then another potential buyer just randomly falls down all these stairs?”

“You think it’s all related or something?”

“It might be? I mean, think about it, dude. This house has been empty since my dad was in high school. Don’t you remember the weird feeling we’d all get when we had to walk by it to get to our old elementary school? There’s something…off about this house.”

“So you think something in this house forced that Jones guy to snap?”

“I think it’s as possible as anything else.”

Dave watches John’s hands as he presses record on the recorder, and settles back with the camera rolling to capture any potential activity.

“We’re here just to ask questions,” John says. “We’d really appreciate it if you could talk to us.”

The silence seems to enhance the darkness of the large room each time John pauses to let any potential answer come through. He asks the standard questions again, and then stops the tape to rewind. There’s no response to any of them.

“Maybe you should ask more personal questions,” Dave suggests, fully invested in this whole ordeal now.

“Like what?”

“Ask if they remember who killed them or something, I dunno.”

John does, and then they play it back immediately afterwards. A different male voice sounds like he’s crying when he says, _“Yes.”_

A chill runs up Dave’s spine at the hollow sounding voice, and before he can stop himself, his free hand lands on John’s thigh, gripping it slightly. John seems grateful for the contact, but his eyes are still wide, and his hands are shaking when he presses record again.

“Is the one who killed you still here?”

Dave has the camera pointed at John, watching everything from the night vision in the monitor. He frowns when something flickers behind John’s back, barely catching the next question.

“Where are they?”

The motion behind John is still there, and Dave’s watching it confusedly as John rewinds the tape, listening to what he just recorded.

 _“Is the one who killed you still here?”_ his voice plays back, and static answers him, followed by the sound of the man sobbing. John’s biting his lip in anticipation, his legs bouncing under Dave’s touch.

 _“Where are they?”_ John’s voice fills the room again from the recording. The static is still producing small whimpers from the crying man, and both of them lean in close to hear any actual words.

_“…Be….hind you.”_

They look sharply up at each other when he starts sobbing again before the tape cuts out, and then Dave feels something touch his shoulder.

“Shit!” he shouts in surprise, turning quickly and accidentally dropping the camera down the stairs. It echoes throughout the large room, reverberating in Dave’s chest. His entire body is trembling, and he’s so scared he’s pissed at himself for it.

“What? What is it?” John asks frantically, reaching for him.

“Something just- something fucking touched me.”

John looks at him with his eyes so wide Dave can see white on all sides, and then stands quickly, bolting down the stairs.

“John! Dude, don’t go off alone!”

“I’m just grabbing the camera!” John says as he leans down to pick it up off the floor. He turns around to head back up the stairs, and then practically lands in Dave’s lap. Neither of them chooses to mention this fact, and John rewinds the footage, playing around the time the man answered them. They can both see a sort of mist behind him, the swirling tendrils moving to resemble the shape of a human. John pauses when Dave jumps in the footage, just before the camera flies through the air. There's a hand visible behind John, swiping at him. .

“Oh my god,” John turns to face him, unaware of just how close they actually are until their faces are mere centimeters apart. He breathes in sharply, eyes darting down to Dave’s mouth, and then back up again. Neither of them moves.

“Dave,” John says quietly, and that’s it, Dave is undone. He leans forward and presses their lips together gently, barely any pressure behind it at all. When John doesn’t pull away, he cups his face and presses against him more firmly. They share each other’s air when they part, both of them flushed.

“It’s really shitty timing and whatnot,” Dave says lamely, “but I’m pretty much in lesbians with you, bro.”

“Did you just make a _Scott Pilgrim_ reference to me?” John asks with a wide smile.

“Obviously.”

John kisses him again quickly, still smiling against his mouth like a loon. “I lesbian you too, Dave.”

It takes the sound of a door creaking open behind them to remind them of their surroundings, and John is laughing sheepishly when he pulls away, scratching the back of his neck with embarrassment.

“Um, I think we should probably continue this later,” he says, his face bright red.

“That’s prolly a good idea.”

Dave is barely able to contain his excitement when John moves closer, sitting fully on his lap and initiating more physical contact despite what he just said about stopping. They’re waiting for the girls anyway, he says with a breathless smile that Dave kisses away. Their tongues are tangling together when the sound of giggling breaks them apart.

“I thought we were ghost hunting, not dick hunting,” Jade says with her hands on her hips. Rose is demurely playing off her own laugh with slight cough, but both of them are looking so undeniably smug that it makes Dave’s teeth click together.

“Well, you know,” he says with a snort, “unexpected treasures and whatnot.”

“You guys gotta come see this!” John says, wiggling around on Dave’s lap, succeeding in making him hard. “We got so much stuff, it’s unreal!”

“We did, too!” Jade calls, bounding up the stairs two at a time. “Something walked across the floor in the room where Jones went psycho.”

“What! No way!” John is bouncing by this point.

“Egbert, I swear to fucking God,” Dave hisses. “You’re pretty much all over my junk, here.”

“I know,” John replies with a mischievous smirk. “I can feel it.”

“Jesus fucking _Christ_.”

John shows them their footage, and then plays the recordings. Dave looks over his shoulder when Jade plays theirs. It’s in a large bedroom, some of the furniture covered in sheets, and then a shadow walks in front of the monitor.

“Did you get any EVPs?” John asks.

“You have the only tape recorder, silly,” Jade replies. “Did Dave scramble your brains _that_ bad?”

“I think we should call it a night, soon,” Rose says while John swipes at Jade. “I have an eerie feeling about this house, but I feel awful about the spirits trapped here.”

“We could do a séance,” John offers. “Sometimes it helps them move on.”

“I suppose we could…” Rose says thoughtfully.

“Yeah, whatever, let’s just do this so we can leave this fucking place,” Dave grumbles.

“Jeeze, Dave, you’d bitch about something until you turned blue if we let you,” Jade giggles.

“That’s not the only thing turning blue,” Dave mumbles lowly, and John grins at him.

They make their way back to the bedroom in Jade and Rose’s footage, and they sit in a circle.

“Does anyone actually know how to do this?” Dave asks.

“I do,” Jade says. “I used to study this stuff a lot after Bec died.”

“He was a _dog_ , Harley,” Dave says. “What good would a séance have done?”

“Shut your mouth, Strider,” Jade replies. “You don’t know my life!”

“Jesus, let’s just do this. Now, what do we do, Jade?” John asks.

“Everyone needs to hold hands, and we have to make sure to keep the circle intact at all times,” Jade says airily. “There needs to be no negativity in the circle.” She shoots a pointed look to Dave. “Otherwise something could attach to one of us.”

“Are you going to lead, Jade?” Rose asks.

“Actually, I’m not really all that articulate,” Jade says with a sheepish grin. “I was hoping you would, Rose.”

“Very well, then.”

They all join hands, Dave holding Jade’s in one, and John’s in the other. He never thought he’d actually believe in any of this bullshit, but after tonight, he’s going to have to change his tune on the entire thing. Despite all of this being entirely new to him, he still can’t shake the feeling of déjà vu. It’s bugging the shit out of him.

Their so called ‘séance’ is mostly Rose communicating with the spirits as a whole, telling them to look for the light and move on. She talks for a few minutes, addressing a few of them by name from the articles she read online. While she’s speaking, a sudden sound begins playing, filling the room.

“Is that a piano?” Dave asks quietly as the sound grows louder. He looks over to John for confirmation.

“Requiem in D Minor…” John and Rose say at the same time. John makes to stand up, but Jade aims a kick at him.

“Don’t break the circle!” she hisses.

“But the camera!”

“Dismiss the fucking circle or something!” Dave says. “It’s pissing it off.”

Jade does, and then John scrambles for the camera. He asks if anyone has their flashlight.

“I dropped mine,” Jade says sheepishly. “We were using the night vision to see.”

“Here’s mine, dude,” Dave says, handing it to him. “I’m gonna light some of the candles we brought.”

Dave pulls out his lighter while John runs toward the sound in the corner. When he approaches the covered piano, the music stops, one of the keys pressed down in a single note. Jade and Rose stay near Dave, both of them looking put off.

“Should he go off alone?” Rose asks.

“No, he fucking shouldn’t. John! Get your ass back here!”

“Coming,” John says. “It stopped anyway.”

“I’m with Rose on this one, guys,” Jade says. “I think we need to leave.”

“Are you okay?” John asks with a frown when he rejoins them.

“I have a really bad feeling. I just- we need to go. When we were in the circle, I felt… Something is watching us.”

“Is it that Jones dude?” Dave asks, remembering the supposed malevolent spirit from earlier.

“No. I- I don’t…think it’s human.”

There’s the sound of a door slamming upstairs, and they all jump when some dust from the ceiling begins falling down. The entire house begins to shake on its foundation.

“We need to go!” Jade shouts over all the noise. “This thing, whatever it is- it’s the one responsible for-!”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re fucking _gone_.” Dave leads them across the room in a frantic run, all of them heading back for the main door of the house. They run out into the cold night air, laughing slightly though still looking stricken, and journey back towards Dave’s car.

“I need a goddamn drink,” Dave announces once they’re in the car. “Like, worse than I’ve ever needed one.”

“I agree with that,” Rose says. John laughs, and then freezes, looking slightly panicked.

“Shit,” he says. “I left the camera in that piano room.”

“Well, you’re not getting it back,” Dave says matter of factly. “Bid it goodbye forever, bro. There goes your legacy.”

“No, fuck that!” John has the door open before Dave can grab him. “I’ll be right back!”

“John, get back in the fucking car!” Dave throws his door open, but John’s already running back inside the house, the door looming open after him. Dave curses and scrambles to follow him, ignoring the calls of the girls behind him.

He chases John back into the piano room to find him on his hands and knees, looking everywhere for the camera. He turns over his shoulder to look at Dave.

“Sorry,” he says hurriedly, “I can’t remember where I dropped it!”

“Dude, it’s not important. We need to go, you heard Jade.”

“It _is_ important!” John says a little too loudly. He flushes while Dave stares at him. “It’s- I mean. It’s important to _me._ ”

“I know you’re all into ghosts and shit, and that’s cool, whatever, we’ll get more footage later-“

“It’s not the ghost footage! Jade still has her camera, so we still have that! Our footage is- it’s the memory of tonight, okay? Jesus, Dave, this was like the moment I’ve been waiting for forever, okay? Now go ahead and make your fucking jokes.”

“What moment?”

“For you to kiss me.”

“Fuck, John.” Dave crosses the room and drops to his knees to pull John into a tight hug. “You don’t need film of it, dumbass.”

“But I-“

The door to the piano room flies shut with a loud banging noise, and the piano moves across the floor to block it. Dave curses and pulls John to his feet, instructing him to help push it out of the way so they can finally leave.

“Dave, do you hear that?” John whispers while they’re shoving the piano.

“What?”

“It’s- shhh, there it is again! Listen!”

In the room outside, there’s the sound of a woman screaming from upstairs, her voice getting louder. Dave’s blood runs cold at the sound of it, and his hair stands on end.

“What the fuck?”

“I think it’s the girl who was pushed,” John whimpers. “God, let’s just- I wanna go, let’s just go…”

They manage to shove the piano a little further while the scream gets louder still, and a man’s voice begins laughing somewhere in the corner behind them while the house begins to shake once more, though twice as forceful as before. Paintings begin to fall off the walls, and the still-lit candles from before topple over onto the rug, lighting it on fire.

“Shit!” Dave yells, finally managing to push hard enough to get the fucking thing to budge again. “Jesus, John, _push_!”

They scramble from the room when they manage to get the door open enough from behind the piano, and they make a break for outside while the house begins falling apart around them.

“Almost there!” Dave shouts, grabbing John’s hand and pulling him forward. “Almost there, almost there, almost-!”

John screams out in pain as the ceiling finally gives in and cascades on top of them, and all Dave can see is a blinding white light that he can’t blink away.

The sun streams through a crack in the blinds, and the entire room is almost blinding. He keeps meaning to get curtains to solve this little problem, but he never seems to remember until he’s literally fucking blinded by the light. Dave grumbles and rolls over, tugging his pillow off his head.

“I was just about to come wake you up!” a voice says from the doorway, and he looks up to see John leaning against the wall. Dave groans and tosses the pillow at him, feeling as if he’s done this exact same thing at least a dozen times before.

After all, that’s what it means to be residual.


End file.
